National and International standards and codes-of-practice for cathodic protection provide general
guidance for negative polarized potential limits to prevent damage (which can occur due to excessive hydrogen
formation) where specific performance data is not available.
With the application of cathodic protection to high strength steels and alloys there is an increasing need to
determine the acceptable negative limit for a particular alloy / environment combination, which can only be
determined by laboratory testing.
This paper summarizes the issues associated with determining the negative potential limit, describe the
different laboratory test methods (constant strain, constant load, slow strain rate, stepped load, stepped potential
etc), and the issues associated with determining the specific acceptance criteria. Examples of test data from a
number of different steels and alloys and exposure environments will be presented to illustrate the problems faced
in designing, carrying out and interpreting these tests.